April 16, 2014

SEO has changed immensely over the years, and not just because of algorithm updates.

At the core SEO is a lot of the technical aspects, and best practices for SEO are actually the same as they were 10 years ago. But, what’s acceptable in SEO now vs. what worked in the past (because it went undetected) has changed.

SEO is now a big beast. No longer can a SEO team sit off in the corner and garner extraordinary results. Now, everything has to be high quality and look natural. The best way to do this? Mobilize the departments that get people talking about your brand to factor in SEO. This is actually not new, for 12+ years I have advocated this, but it wasn’t as mission critical to SEO as it is today.

So what does SEO look like now? The team at Linkdex asked that very question, and to help answer it brought together 27 SEO thought leaders to get their expert insight (myself included) for their new book SEO Now. SEO Now is an ebook with interviews from top SEOs from a variety of backgrounds dishing out juicy information on what is SEO, what are they doing, how their jobs have changed and more.

I was asked by Linkdex to help pull together some of the best in-housers around and conduct interviews for this ebook. After participating in all the interviews and reading the ebook, I have to say the opportunity to read through what these experts brought to the conversation should not be missed!

Here are my thoughts on SEO now:

It’s not all that different, but the level of quality that is acceptable has changed dramatically. As an example, you’ve always needed links, you still need links. However, now you need quality links that look natural - the kind that come from the efforts of social media marketing, good old fashioned public relations and outstanding value and service that makes people want to talk about you naturally.

Today’s enterprise-level SEOs will end up spending less time “doing” SEO and more time selling SEO to non-SEO teams and trying to get them on board. Hands down, when asked if they could change one thing about their SEO program to make it better, the #1 item reported by in-house SEOs is to get other teams on board with SEO and doing it. I see companies recognizing the need, but floundering at any progress on the #1 item that would move the needle. Not enough companies invest in this area, and instead expect their SEO teams to figure it out in-between chasing down SEO mishaps. This approach just will not lead to needle-moving results for most companies.

Non-SEO teams must start doing SEO as part of their job. I predict that many SEO teams at big brands will serve as a SEO center of excellence, guiding the rest of the organization to execute to the SEO strategy. I also predict management will wise up to this and begin peppering SEO into job descriptions and annual performance goals.

The ebook SEO Now brings together SEOs and thought leaders from all backgrounds and walks of life (not just in-housers).

Want to discuss my thoughts from the book and on what I learned conducting the interviews? Contact me and let’s get the conversation started :)